


Digging the Dancing Queen

by incrediblydeadlyviper



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 70s pop music, Comfort, Crying, Dancing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Fluff, Hispanic Lance (Voltron), Homesickness, Lance is just a sad sweet baby, Lance's seductive hips, Latino Lance (Voltron), M/M, My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, Song Lyrics, Song fic, and awkward, keith is emotionally constipated, keith trying to run from the gay thoughts, klance, mentions of Lance's family - Freeform, really just mentions of the gang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 13:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7619533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incrediblydeadlyviper/pseuds/incrediblydeadlyviper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Though Lance had always irritated Keith, he later found himself wishing that he had been right. Because Lance was not back to his old self. He’d picked up a new habit and it was quite possibly the worst one yet. Singing.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In which, Lance's method of curbing his homesickness drives Keith insane, in more ways then one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Digging the Dancing Queen

**Author's Note:**

> After watching Voltron for the third time and stalking the klance tag on tumblr, I knew I had to write something for it. So, here's a fluffy fic about everyone's favorite space gays being dumb and awkward as usual. Also, recommended playlist for the full experience is: Kill V Maim - Grimes, Walk On - the Overcoats, and the obvious. This is my first fic so please leave feedback, thanks!

Keith didn’t know what Lance’s problem was. He’d never done anything to him _personally_ (except for maybe beating him at everything), but Lance seemed to hate his guts. From their first meeting, Lance had been throwing insults his way for no reason other than the fact that Keith existed and it was starting to piss him off. It’s not that Keith liked Lance much either, in fact it was the exact opposite, but he knew that acting childish and refusing to cooperate wouldn’t help them become a good team. And apparently when the only way to form the giant robot known as Voltron that defended the universe from all things evil was to get along, Keith thought it wasn’t much to ask for Lance to quit resorting to name calling. 

He tried to be the bigger person and ignore it but unfortunately he severely underestimated his temper and (the biggest factor) Lance’s dedication to making Keith want to rip his hair out. Lance was always making unnecessary comments whether it was about his hair or his appearance in general. Keith lost count of how many times he’d heard _emo_ or _mullet_ from Lance in an attempt to bait him. Which Keith could handle if they were still classmates at the Garrison but in high stress situations like training with the Gladiator on level 9 or shooting down Galra ships, the last thing he wanted to hear was some smartass comment about something so unimportant. 

The worst part about it though was Shiro. Whenever Keith saw red and went off on Lance, Shiro would play peace keeper and break it up as the leader of the team. But he didn’t just scold Lance, he scolded Keith too and Keith wasn’t sure he could take another one of Shiro’s classic, fatherly _I’m disappointed in you_ looks before he put Lance in a healing pod for a week. 

But the most annoying part about Lance by far was just how _loud_ he could be. 

When Keith entered a room, he might not be noticed at all, but everyone knew when Lance was close by. He always, always had something to say. Scratch that, he always had something to yell. Lance, apparently, had never learned the art of volume control, and why people shouldn’t just randomly use their voice’s loudest setting (if Lance had a limit anyway.) He didn’t know how many times he’d heard Lance screaming in the next room and rushed to the scene only to find Lance in an entirely idiotic and un-life-threatening situation. His concern was usually acknowledged by Lance making fun of him for being out of breath.

Lance obviously had a very different background than Keith. Keith had grown up being shipped off from family to family in foster care until finally the Garrison (well, for a while anyway.) He’d never had siblings and had never had a real family. It wasn’t that some of his foster parents hadn’t been nice but there had always been something off. Like they were walking on eggshells around him just waiting to swoop in at the moment Keith decided to “open up,” whatever that meant. He was comfortable keeping everything to himself and he couldn’t figure out why that was a bad thing. Lance was the exact opposite. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he was completely open about his feelings regardless of where he was or who he was talking to. He remembered Hunk mentioning how Lance’s family was comically large and suspected at least some of their differences stemmed from this. Lance had grown up in a home where he never needed a filter and always had someone to talk to whereas Keith had never had a home in the first place. Though he’d begun to appreciate his tragic backstory more and more when Lance’s homesickness hit. 

Lance, normally energetic and cheerful, would often get reminded of his family by the littlest of things and because of the size of it nearly everything reminded him of some aspect of the home he left behind. And Lance was a crier. Just the other day, they had been eating dinner (if you considered green goo dinner) when Hunk had made a comment about missing burritos. At first, Lance just put his spoon down and his eyes glazed over a little as he stared down at the space goop that was very obviously not his beloved mamá’s delicious cooking. Keith noticed how he had quieted down and had felt a twinge of sympathy in his throat, and also envy for the feeling that he would never have. Feeling intrusive, Keith had averted his gaze but they darted back when he heard a faint whimper. Lance’s lip had started trembling and his eyes were rapidly filling up with liquid, ready to spill over at any moment. Keith almost had a panic attack. He watched in terror as Lance’s tall, lanky frame was wracked with a sob and then there were six pairs of eyes on him instead of one. He looked up, fingers trying to wrestle the tears back into his red eyes and said, “I’m sorry everybody. I think I’m just a little homesick.” Keith thought that must have been the quietest he’d ever heard him. And with that, and the most heartbreaking expression Keith had ever seen, he left the room without another look at the unappetizing meal or any of his friends. 

The next couple of days had gone much the same except that Keith’s concern had been replaced with irritation. He understood that he didn’t really have a right to be annoyed because well, he _couldn’t_ understand what Lance was going through but did he have to express his sorrow through loud, heart wrenching sobs? Because Lance didn't just cry, he bawled. And it was up to the person closest to him to comfort him. Coincidentally Keith had avoided Lance even more since the episodes had started. He could tell that the others were unsure of how to deal with it as well, but because they sometimes felt the same, albeit less frequently, they always did their best to cheer him up. And when Lance wasn’t happy no one was. Lance’s mood always affected the entire group since his voice was the one that always filled the silence and broke the ice, so when he broke down crying and retreated to his room to soak his pillow, things tended to get a bit tense. 

Luckily, Lance’s loudness came in handy here because whenever he heard even the smallest sniffle from the nearest room, Keith ran. Because Keith, having never been in the situation before, had no earthly idea how to comfort someone. In fact, the mere thought of being stuck with a crying Lance made his stomach twist. Sure, Keith could take out a dozen Galra soldiers and barely break a sweat, but physical and emotional capability were two entirely different things. That was one area where Lance was much better than Keith, not that Lance would ever wise up and notice that himself. And Keith sure as hell wouldn’t be the one telling him. 

One afternoon, after narrowly evading Lance’s tears and escaping to the training deck, the alarms sounded. Keith’s heart lurched and he swiftly disposed of the Gladiator with one well timed slash and ran out to look for his teammates. Instead he was met with Galra soldiers and sentinels, charged with the task of destroying the paladins and stealing their lions. He braced himself before charging at them, his bayard swinging at the nearest enemy. He sliced through the crowd, one by one, carving out a path for himself as more and more Galra closed in on him. He didn’t have time for this. He had to find his friends and make sure they were okay. They were the only family he had and he and the universe couldn’t afford to lose them. He needed them. He growled as his blade sunk into Galra armor, marking the metal with its lethal signature. Keith, chest tightening and limbs shaking, sprinted down the hall, leaving the abnormally large bodies of the Galra Empire’s finest in his wake. 

The next day was comprised primarily of repairing the ship, devising strategies in the event of more ambushes and resting for the paladins. Coran and Allura may be invincible but the five pilots, defenders of the universe or not, were only human. Thankfully, no members of Team Voltron had been severely injured but they’d fought their hardest and all of them had the bruises and cuts to prove it. So, they decided to take it easy today with the promise to hit the training deck early tomorrow morning. Of course, Allura would have been yelling at them to get off their asses but she was knee deep in plans for preventing the Galra from initiating any more “surprises” on their ship and wasn’t around to notice their so called laziness. 

Even Keith was worn out from the ordeal. In fact, the only one of them who wasn’t was, oddly enough, Lance. When Lance entered the dining room that morning, he’d been smiling and looked well rested. He greeted everyone, excluding Keith but that was a given, and sat down to dig in to what appeared to be “soup.” Whatever it was, Lance had devoured it in seconds and proceeded to talk everyone’s ear off like he normally did at breakfast before his homesickness had affected him. When Lance got up for seconds, they all exchanged looks of confusion. Their telepathic conversation was interrupted by Lance’s very loud singing. Hunk shrugged and their meeting was adjourned with the general consensus being _at least he’s not bawling anymore._ Maybe the attack had made him realize how important being a paladin was and how he had to be strong for his family or something. Keith wasn’t really sure how the whole family thing worked. He frowned slightly, puzzled by the sudden change but after catching another insult about his apparently outdated hairstyle, it was replaced with a scowl and a roll of his eyes. Yep, Lance was back to his old self. His annoying, obnoxious, overly loud self. Great.

Though Lance had always irritated Keith, he later found himself wishing that he had been right. Because Lance was not back to his old self. He’d picked up a new habit and it was quite possibly the worst one yet. Singing. 

When he had been in his slump, Pidge had designed a music player for him (there were no Ipods in space) with some of his favorite songs on it in an attempt to cheer him up. Due to his foul mood, he hadn’t used it much but now he carried it everywhere, belting out the lyrics to horrible 70s pop songs and making Keith’s ears cringe. It wasn’t that Lance was a bad singer in fact his voice was actually pretty nice but he sang all the time. In the shower, in the dining room, in his own room, on the training deck, even in his lion for fuck’s sake. Keith wanted to screw his ears off and never reattach them again. He longed for the days when the only annoying thing Lance did was insult him and scream unnecessarily and cursed himself for being ungrateful. This had to be some form of personal torture directed at him. For some reason, none of the others seemed to have any problem with Lance’s outbursts, probably because before they had consisted of him crying on their shoulders, but still. Whenever Lance turned on his music and sang along they just went with it like it had been happening since day one. Coran and Allura, fascinated by Earth music, would try to join in with him, making Lance laugh when they messed up the words. Hunk, Lance’s best friend, was already used to this type of behavior and carried on as usual. Pidge, who was often annoyed with Lance like Keith, surprisingly just gave a smug smile whenever she saw or heard Lance much to Keith’s chagrin. He guessed her pride at the invention’s flawless functioning had compromised his plan to make her his ally in shutting Lance up. And Shiro, well Shiro just gave him a small, bemused smile like a dad when their kid does something silly or cute. Typical. 

\--

Keith had been flying his lion, when he heard the familiar sound of his stomach whining. He attempted to ignore it, but after skipping breakfast for an early practice session with Red, he was starved. He left the red lion in the bay and headed down to the dining hall, in hopes of finding some, preferably solid, grub. 

_Friday night and the lights are low_  
_Looking out for the place to go_

Oh God. Keith wanted to smash his head into the wall. Lance was singing that fucking song and had been for days. It was by far the worst one he played which was why it was obviously his favorite. And here he was dancing like mad and singing with all his heart in the middle of the dining hall. All he’d wanted was a snack but of course he couldn’t get a break and there was no way he was walking into whatever that was. Turning to leave, Keith stopped when Lance put down his own snack and started to move his hips, his whole body vibrating with energy and life. He was moving in perfect synchronization with the music. He lifted his arms and Keith noticed his shirt had ridden up a little, catching a glimpse of light brown skin. _Kill me._ His eyes were glued to the scene in front of him, and he didn’t know what he wanted anymore. He didn’t know if he wanted to run from that room and into the training deck in an attempt to convince himself that was why his heart was pumping so hard, or if he wanted to run into the room and shut Lance up by smashing their faces together. Lance’s oblivion finally ran out and his eyes pinned Keith in place like daggers. _Fuck. I’ve got to get out. I’ve got to get out._ Keith waited for Lance to make fun of him or ask him what the hell he’d been doing drooling over him like that. But he didn’t. In fact he kept dancing. And singing. And now he was coming closer.

 _You're a teaser, you turn 'em on_  
_Leave them burning and then you're gone_

Keith froze and watched in horror as Lance got so close to him that he could touch him. He was smirking at him and he skipped one of the lines to say something, probably an insult. Keith couldn’t hear him over the music and the beating of his heart that he’s going to sit down and have a long talk with after this. Because there is no reason he should be on the verge of cardiac arrest because Lance is dancing in front of him. Stupid, vexing, childish, idiotic Lance. Whose gorgeous face was now inches from his own. 

He leans in and for a second Keith is certain that he is about to be kissed. By Lance. And he is certain that he will like it. 

Bracing himself he closes his eyes just as Lance whispers “You like what you hear?” 

He pulls back and looks at Keith with same grin he gives him when he’s just succeeded at pissing him off and Keith understands. Lance knows he hates this song. Lance does not know that Keith is experiencing an internal meltdown at his close proximity or that he thought Lance had wanted the same thing he had. The spell has broken, the song has ended, and Keith is leaving. 

“Fuck off.” He shoves Lance away from him and storms down the hallway, already getting out his bayard in preparation for his training. 

“Geez, what’s got your panties in a twist? It was just a joke,” he hears Lance say as he clenches his fist tighter. 

After their awkward encounter, Keith is back to avoiding Lance at all costs. He’s not sure if he’s ever not been avoiding Lance, but his reasoning for it continues to change. Lance, oblivious as usual, carries on as if nothing even happened between them. Probably because nothing did. It was all in Keith’s head. 

Keith was walking back to his room after a particularly grueling Voltron mission in which his lion had taken quite a bit of damage. Coran had assured him that it would be as good as new the next time they flew but still. He and his lion were linked and when she was injured it put him on edge. He sighed and passed Lance’s room only to stop in his tracks. _Was that a sniffle?_ Shit. Not this again. Keith tried to just let it go and keep walking but his stupid heart had to intervene again. One thing he’d discovered about having a crush was that apparently you care when they’re upset. And, yes, he was admitting to having a crush on Lance. Keith had never been one for beating around the bush and although he wasn’t exactly ecstatic about his newly discovered feelings, he refused to lie to himself. Besides it's not like he would ever consider acting on them. Even if Lance wasn’t as annoying as he was, they were teammates, and Keith would never put that in jeopardy. 

Except that he was acting on them. Right now by walking over to Lance’s door and stepping into the room. And he had no explanation except that he wanted to make Lance’s pain go away. 

Lance’s face shot up at the sound of his door sliding open. His eyes widened, and he frantically wiped at his cheeks, a feeble attempt to destroy the evidence. Because the last person he wanted to see in the world right now was Keith. 

“Look now’s not a good time so just leave okay. I’m trying to sleep, that mission was fucking tiring.” Neither pointed out the obvious lie and Lance waited for the laughter, the insult, the anything but there was only silence. 

Lance had been staring a hole in his floor when he found out who the visitor was but he looked at Keith’s face again, searching for the smug grin that he knew was waiting for him. But instead of finding a predator ready to pounce, he saw Keith staring at him with a look he’d never seen before. It was gentle, smoothing out the usual hard pressed lines that marred Keith’s face and morphed it into a constant scowl that only seemed to get worse. He was frowning, yes, but it was small and without anger. He looked concerned. 

Keith stared at the boy on his bed with his head in his hands and all he knew was that he had to make it stop. This boy didn’t need anymore pain, and Keith was going to protect him. Because Lance had been protecting them. Keith realized that the reason Lance had suddenly appeared better was because he been putting on a strong face for his teammates. He had pushed down his feelings in order to ease the team’s worrying and lighten their spirits. His mood was intoxicating and he knew its effect on the team. Keith hadn’t given him enough credit. 

When their eyes met for the second time, he walked to the bed and sat down next to Lance. He didn’t know what he was doing or how he was going to take away the pain, but even if it took all night he wouldn’t leave him here alone. Keith couldn’t wrap him up in one of Hunk’s warm hugs, couldn’t distract him with some strange invention like Pidge, or give him a speech that would take away all his worries like Shiro, but he could listen. 

“Tell me about them.”

Lance still crying, apparently unable to stop even in his bewilderment, gave Keith a confused look as if he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. 

“What?” 

“Tell me about your family. I mean-- that is if that’s why you’re upset-- I just,” Keith took a deep breath, frustrated by his own incompetence. “You can talk to me. About your family. You’re always crying over them, so they must be pretty great, right?” 

Lance stared at him for a few more seconds and Keith began to doubt himself. Even if he wanted to help that didn’t mean that Lance wanted his help. What had he been thinking, that Lance would just stop crying when the person he literally hated the most started babbling about being there for him? He was so stup-- 

“Well, there are nine of us. Mi mamà, mi papà, my two older brothers, my two younger sisters, my younger brother, and my abuela.” 

Keith’s eyes widened. Nine, people? He lived with nine people? How was that even possible? 

Lance snickered at his expression, “I know, it was a fucking zoo. And even though they drove me insane sometimes, and I wished more than ever that I could live on my own back then, I wouldn’t trade them for anything, you know?” 

Keith didn’t know, but he nodded like he did. 

“I mean sure, when I was at the Garrison, I wasn’t living with them, but I could talk to them if i missed them. And I did everyday because we were that close. I made it seem like it was annoying to have them call so much, but I was secretly glad that they did because it was the only thing that kept me from becoming like, well like this. A wreck. It’s pathetic.” 

Keith wanted to say that he was wrong. That he wasn’t pathetic, that he was strong and that his family would feel the same way. But, he didn't know what to say, so instead he put a hand on Lance’s arm. 

Fortunately, Lance seemed to understand his wordless encouragement and carried on. “It's not like you'd think, either. I don't just sit around thinking about how much I love them all the time. It's noticing all the little things that you took for granted. Like in the morning, when I wake up to my alarm beeping instead of mamà yelling at me or when I hog the bathroom and don't hear Maria banging on the door, complaining about how long I've been in there or when I haven't done my laundry and can't steal one of Danny's shirts. The details that you skip over in your everyday life. Those are the things I really miss.”

“What scares me the most, though, is not missing those habits. It’s forgetting them. What’ll happen if I get back to Earth? Will everything be back to normal or will I just be an… an outsider? I can't stop missing them,” he choked out, “because I don't want to let go of them.”

“But the worst part? The most fucked up part of this whole thing?” Lance said, with a dry laugh. “My family thinks I'm dead. Not off saving the universe but dead. And when I think of mi mamà crying over me I just…” he trailed of and his head sunk back into his hands. 

Keith had not been prepared for this. He didn’t think he would ever be prepared for this. This was not his territory, not his area of expertise. No, this was something he didn't think he would ever understand. But he was the only one there and Lance was crying again and it wasn't okay. He had to help him. He knew that he would fail with his words, so instead he decided to do something else. Something only he could do. He took a shaky breath and then stood up.

“Keith? Keith, what are you doing?” 

Keith didn’t answer because he had no idea what he was doing. Making a fool of himself, maybe. But if it was for Lance, he thought it just might be okay. His eyes scanned the room until he found what he was looking for. He took a deep breathe and walked over to the music player. He hoped this worked, or he would never live it down. 

“Wait is that--” Lance was cut off by the opening notes of his favorite song. 

Keith turned to look at Lance, hot tears staining his shocked face. _If he’s already this shocked I wonder what he’ll do next_ Keith thought as he opened his mouth. 

“You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your li- ife,” Keith sang, refusing to break his poker face or his eye contact with Lance. It was taking all his life not to crawl into a hole and never come out right now, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t stopping until there was a smile on Lance’s stupid face. He started mimicking the dance moves he’d seen Lance do in the dining hall and made his way back to where Lance sat frozen, as if seeing Keith dance had turned him to stone. 

“You're in the mood for a dance, and when you get the chance…” 

Keith grabbed his hands and Lance’s expression melted. He wasn’t in the mood for this no matter how insane it was. 

“Keith, I’m don't want to--” 

“Shut up and dance with me.” 

Keith shook his hips in Lance’s direction and tugged until Lance was standing in front of him. 

“You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen, Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine.” 

And Lance couldn’t hold it any longer. He burst out laughing, his chest releasing all the tension he’d felt earlier. Keith was in his bedroom, holding his hands, dancing with him, and singing this fucking song. Keith’s poker face broke when he heard Lance laugh and he smiled too. Lance’s grip on his hands tightened and he stared at Keith and started singing with him. Lance easily upstaged him in dancing but neither of them cared, too caught up in the song and each other to think of much else. All of their inhibitions were gone replaced with giddiness that neither of them had felt in months. They were defenders of the universe, and they were two seventeen year old boys having the time of their lives. 

The song came to an end and Keith thought it would be like last time, but it wasn’t. They were still smiling. Lance looked at him, their hands still together, and put his head on Keith’s shoulder. 

“This is so gay,” he whispered and then giggled. Keith, surprising himself, joined in.  
“I know. And if you tell anyone that I did that I will personally throw you out in space and deny everything.” 

“Thank you.” 

“I just didn’t want you getting snot all over me,” he said but his tone was light. 

“Of course,” Lance answered, grinning. “And by the way, how did you know all the words?” 

Keith thought he couldn’t blush any harder but once again he was proven wrong.  
“Because you were singing it everywhere, okay?” 

“Yeah, suuure,” Lance said. 

“Ughhh,” Keith buried his head in Lance’s chest, still vibrating from laughter. Keith could really use a hole to crawl into and die right about now. 

Later, after a few more dances, they were on Lance’s bed, Lance sitting up and leaning against the wall with his arms wrapped around Keith, situated comfortably inbetween his legs. 

“Hmm…” Lance hummed against the back of Keith’s head, his face currently buried in the fluffy, black hair. 

After a few moments of silence, Lance repeated himself louder this time. 

“What?” Keith asked, slightly grumpy. 

He’d been about to fall asleep and Lance was messing it up. 

“So...is this going to be our song?” 

Silence. 

“Because-” 

“Go to hell.”

Lance’s laughter was even louder than his crying.

 _Well, I guess that's ok…_ Keith thought as he closed his eyes once more and drifted to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Keith is so done and Lance hasn't even started. If there are any mistakes, they are my own, and please tell me about them so I can fix them. Also, if you consider yourself voltrash in klance hell like me, here's my tumblr: http://the-incrediblydeadly-viper.tumblr.com/


End file.
